Research means hitting wrong notes

December 03, 2018

Anglo-Saxon Drinking Song Lyrics

SCORE. A thousand thanks to Kalara Zrinyi, who posted a link to a story on wassailing, which in turn contained a reference to a song allegedly sung by Harold Godwinson's men on the night before the Battle of Hastings. It referenced Cecil Sharp, who in turn referenced Wace.

Caveats:

Written down by an Anglo-Norman

At least 100 years after the Conquest

In a document chronicling William of Normandy's righteous ascent to the throne

Which is now lost, and all surviving copies would have been scribed by Frenchmen who would have no idea what they were looking at when they transcribed the Old English